


Definition

by unwindmyself



Series: curious shapes shift in the dark [76]
Category: True Blood
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Biphobia, Cousins, Family Drama, Female Friendship, Fix-It, Gen, Sisters, agency and choices!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-14
Updated: 2015-03-14
Packaged: 2018-03-17 16:00:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3535448
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unwindmyself/pseuds/unwindmyself
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The adults in the Bellefleur household try and fail to sort some sensitive things out with their teenage infants; Braelyn sorts some different but related things out with her cousin's help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Definition

**Author's Note:**

> Part four, "Watch the Moon Disappear."

“So kittens?” Braelyn exclaims as she bounds into the room, followed by her sisters.

“In a minute,” says Andy, and promptly the girls realize that he’s flanked by their aunt and uncle.

“Shit,” Charlaine mutters.

“Why don’t y’all sit down,” Arlene suggests.

All rather sullenly, the girls flop down on the couch, rather pointedly “out of order” (Danika Braelyn Charlaine Adilyn) like they do when they feel like they’re in trouble.  It’s petulant, but while their dad has never mixed them up (at least not since they got full-grown) Arlene and Terry have both come close.

“We do somethin’ wrong?” Charlaine asks.

“You most certainly did not,” Terry says as kindly as he can.  He’s the good cop.

“Your daddy just realized there are some things we haven’t figured out yet,” Arlene says warily.  She’s probably going to be the bad cop.

“Like what?” Danika asks, because it’s polite to pretend like they don’t know.

“Well, rules about boys, for one,” Andy says.

Braelyn giggles and leans back against the couch.

“Hey, young lady,” Arlene says. “I know you’re goin’ through your little bicurious phase –”

“What’s that mean?” Braelyn asks, wrinkling her nose.

Arlene rolls her eyes.  “It means I know it’s cool to experiment with your sexuality, and hangin’ out with vampires probably doesn’t help.”

“I like girls,” Braelyn says.  “So what?”

“Sweetie, you’re a baby, you don’t know what you like,” Arlene sighs.

Andy coughs.  “Let’s just call it rules about dating,” he says.

“Do we have to?” Adilyn asks, sounding bored by the prospect.

“For socializing,” Andy amends.  “For one, I think the rule that if you’re out at night, Sookie or, uh, your vampire is nearby is workin’ for now.”

“It works a little less well when someone’s vampire is the whole reason we’re havin’ to have the boundaries talk with them,” Arlene mutters, or maybe she just thinks it, because it makes Braelyn so angry she doesn’t care and so angry that she storms out of the room.

Danika and Charlaine and Adilyn all look at each other, conferring silently.  “Can we finish this later, Daddy?” Adilyn asks sweetly as she can.  “It’s not gonna work if we’re not all here.”

Andy nods, sighing, and when they all get up to leave, Adilyn kisses his cheek in thanks.  “Yeah, yeah,” he says, feeling not for the first time like a fraud.

 

* * *

 

“Can I hide out here for a little?” Braelyn asks.

Lisa looks up from her computer, and even if Braelyn wasn’t reading her mind right now she’d be getting the confusion.  As a general rule, the cousins are polite to each other but not overly close – probably because at first the girls were too young for Lisa to care and now they’re too old, and also because Colby just doesn’t care about girls right now – so this is fairly unprecedented.

“What are you hiding from?” Lisa asks, wrinkling her nose.

“Literally everything,” Braelyn groans.  “It okay if I sit?”

“Guess so,” Lisa shrugs, though Braelyn is already flopping down on the bed.  “Are the grown-ups bein’ weird again?”

“Yes,” Braelyn says.  “Did you know about this kitten business?”

Lisa nods.  “I helped pick ‘em out,” she says.  “Or, well, I found ‘em online and pointed Uncle Andy in the right direction.  I haven’t actually for reals seen ‘em yet.”

“Did you know they were bein’ used as bait for a fuckin’ sex talk?” Braelyn asks.

“You shittin’ me?” Lisa laughs (she definitely uses the word because she knows Braelyn’s not gonna rat).

“Well, that’s what they were tryin’ to do anyway,” Braelyn sighs.  “’Cept it turned into more of a don’t-have-sex talk, mixed with plenty of a you-don’t-know-who-you-wanna-have-sex-with talk.”

“My mom, huh?” Lisa confirms.

“She pulled that routine on you before?” Braelyn asks.

“Not, like, directly,” Lisa shrugs.  “I mean, I’m pretty sure I like boys.  I’ve never been into a girl like that.”

“Have you been into a boy like that?”

“Maybe famous guys?” Lisa says.  “I like what’s his face, the cute Asian guy on _Glee_ who dances.  An’ Robb Stark.  The guy who plays him is hot.”

Braelyn frowns thoughtfully.  “Yeah,” she says.

“What about you?” Lisa asks.

“What about me?”

“Do you think Robb Stark is hot?” Lisa elaborates, knowing that she won’t have to clarify that she means it representatively.

“I think Daenerys Targaryen is hotter,” Braelyn declares.  “But Robb Stark isn’t… not hot?  If I was, y’know, there and unattached, I’d probably hit on him.”

“So you’re bisexual,” Lisa summarizes.

“I guess so?” Braelyn sighs.  “I like flirting with guys sometimes, but I like just sittin’ next to Willa better.  Does that make sense?”

“That is so cute,” Lisa coos.

“Thanks, I think?”

“I mean it nicely,” Lisa agrees.  “I’m not, like, an expert in this stuff, y’know?  My experience is pretty much who’s gonna ask who to slow dance and who’s gonna be sittin’ on the bleachers.”

Braelyn rolls her eyes.  “My experience is pretty much whatever I see on TV, which I’m pretty sure aren’t good examples, and like, what I get from readin’ Sookie’s mind.  Which doesn’t really help me right now, that girl is pretty damn straight.”

“Well, my friend Gabrielle’s older sister Alexis is bi,” Lisa says authoritatively, “so I could ask her for advice if you want?”

“Thanks,” Braelyn smiles.  “I think I’m gonna try askin’ my vampire girlfriend an’ hers first, maybe.”

Lisa sighs wistfully.  “Must be nice, hangin’ out with cool older people like that.”

“Well, they’re not _people_ ,” Braelyn giggles, “but yeah, they’re pretty neat.”  She tilts her head.  “Your mom said somethin’ about how my hangin’ out with them is probably why I think I’m into girls?”

“Well, you know that vampires got a reputation for bein’ all sexy, or whatever,” Lisa says with a shrug.  “I love my mom, an’ I don’t think she’s a mean person, but I think she kinda misses before things got all complicated, like before all this vampire and fairy and werewolf shit, y’know?  I mean, she’s got her reasons, and, like, I don’t think she holds it against y’all, but… I dunno.”

Braelyn nods.  “Makes sense,” she agrees, realizing that she probably actually knows more about Arlene’s horrible experiences than Lisa does, what with the mind-reading.

“But your dad seems cooler about the whole thing,” Lisa continues.  “I mean, not like… the coolest, necessarily, but.  He’s not flippin’ shit just ‘cause you’re seein’ a chick who’s a vampire.”

“No, I think he’s just flippin’ shit ‘cause I’m seein’ anyone,” Braelyn says wryly.  “Good news is, I’m gonna make anyone you ever wanna go out with seem like a fuckin’ gift.”

Lisa snickers at that.  “Not to take pleasure in your misery or whatever,” she says, “but that’s a really good point.”

Just then, there comes a gentle but insistent knocking on the door.  “I know you’re in there, Brae,” Adilyn calls.  “Can we come in?”

“We found the kittens,” Charlaine adds.

Lisa shrugs.  “Up to you,” she tells Braelyn.

And Braelyn nods.  “Yeah, come in,” she says.  They’re not the problem, after all.

One by one the girls file in, and sure enough, Danika and Charlaine both have kittens in their arms, Danika’s gray and Charlaine’s yellow-orange.  “We figured you could give ‘em names,” Danika tells Braelyn.  “It seems fair.”

“But no pressure or anything,” Charlaine says.

Braelyn laughs.  “How about… the one you’re holding is Regina,” she muses, “an’ Dani’s is Jennifer.”

“I don’t get it,” Lisa chimes in.

The sisters all look at each other, chuckling, and Braelyn says, “We could fix that.”


End file.
